Paper bottle construction



Patented June 29, 1948 PAPER BQ'ITLE CONSTRUCTION Frank D. Palmer,Ghicago, IlL, assignor to Frank D. Palmer, Inc, a corporation ofIllinois Application February 8, 1946, Serial'No. 646,435 9 Claims. (01.93-368) This invention relates to an improvement in paper bottleconstruction and although susceptible of other use, it has particularreference to the construction of paper milk bottles.

Paper milk bottles have already been quite widely adopted in the dairyindustry but in the main, they have been adopted only by the larger milkcompanies who are well able financially to procure the necessary paperbottle making equipment, and who have the facilities for installing andoperating such equipment together with sterilizing equipment, usually inthe form of paramning machinery and special filling machinery adaptedfor the filling of paper bottles. There are many smaller dairies whofind it impracticable because of financial considerations to adopt paperbottles for their relatively small distribution of bottled milk.

The present invention has forits object the provision of a paper milkbottle of exceptionally simple form but which is nevertheless adequatelyleak-proof, of good appearance, and capable of being set up either bythe dairy company or by a package forming concern without the additionof special costly package forming equipment.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood byreference to the following specification and accompanying drawing (onesheet) wherein there is illustrated a paper milk bottle embodying aselected form of the invention.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a plan of the blank employed in forming' the paper bottleherein shown;

" Figs-2 and 3 are perspectives of the bottom end structure showingsuccessive steps in the closing of said end of the container;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section throughthe container on the planerepresentedby the line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig.5 is, in part, a section on the line 5--5 of Fig. 4, and in part, aside elevation in which there isillustrated a device which may beemployedin the operation of closing the bottle.

Each of these figures, 2 to 5 inclusive, represents the container in aninverted position, i. e., with the bottom end up.

' The improved paper bottle herein shown is formed from a, blank of thecharacter illustrated in Fig. 1. The blank is suitably creased to formbody panels I, 2, 3 and 4 and a gluing flap 5 which, in. the process offorming the blank into a carton, is overlapped on thefree marginal edgeportion oi the flap I and adhesively or otherwise secured thereto so asto form the blank into a rectangular tube.

One end of the tube is closed by means of short flaps 6 and '1 formedintegrally with the wall panels 2 and 4 and, flaps 8 and 9 respectivelyformed integrally with. the walls I and 3. The flaps 6 and I are firstfolded inwardly, then the flap 9 and thereafterthe flap 8. The flap 9 isequipped with cut scoring indicated at Ill and H to form removablesections l2 and l3.

The flap 8. is equipped with out scoring Hi which cooperates with ahinge formed "by a crease l5 to form a hinged ear Hi which will overlie.the removable portion ll of the flap 9. The flap 3 is also provided with"scoring H which is extendedinto a flap extension l8 where theends ofthe score lines are joined by a composite line of severance formed bycentrally disposed slitting indicated at [9 and scoring indicated atEll-29. The ends of the score lines I! in the flap 8 are joined byacrease formed hinge line 2L The car 22 surrounded by the lines l'l.l'l,Ell-2e, Hand 2! will overlie the removable element iii of theflap 9; A

The side margins of the flap 9 are adhesively united to the inturnedflaps 6 and I and the flap 8 is adhesively united to the underlyin flap9 except that the ears 6 and 22 are saved against adhesive attachment ofany area of the flap 9 outside of the removable elements l2 and I3.Theear i6 is adhesively attached to the element i2 and the ear 22 isadhesively attached to the element I3. r

In the production of a carton embodying this form, of end closure, thecar it and removable element l3 will initially be displaced as a unitabout the hinge line IE to provide a filling opening indicated at 23 inFig. 4. The ear Z2 and the element l 3 will remain in their normalclosed condition and the car 22 will not be displaced from the flap 8and its extension 18 until in the hands of the consumer, who will be thefirst one to open the ear 22 and element I 3. This end construction maybe considered the top end and it is substantiallyin accordance with thestructure shown in my co-pending application Ser. No. 632,251, filedDecember 1, 1945. The fiap eX- tension [8, as best shown in Fig. 4,overlies the adjacent end portion of the wall 3 and is adhesivelyattached thereto except that no portion of the 'ear '22 is adhered tothe wall 3.

The bottom end of the container is closed by means of a pair of flaps 24and 25 which extend from the wall panels i and 3 respectively, and apair of flaps 2 B and 21 which extend from the wall panels 2 and 4respectively. The fiaps24 to 21 inclusive, like the flaps 6 to 8inclusive, are hingedly connected to the respective wall panels by meansof creasing in the usual manner.

The flaps 24 and 25 are of such length that they each extend acrossubstantially one-half the corresponding dimension of the end area ofthe container body and the flaps '26 and 21 are each of substantiallyfull size, that is to say, of such size that they each coversubstantially the entire end area of the container body. The flaps 24and 25 are first folded inwardly, then either the flap 26 or the fiap 21followed by the remaining one of these two.

To insure leak-proofness in the bottom of the container around thecorners formed by folding the flaps 24 to 21 inwardly as alreadyexplained, a suitable paper strip 28 is provided, said strip extendingcontinuously from the edge 29 of the carton blank to the edge 30 thereofand being arranged to overlap approximately equal portions of the blankon opposite sides of the fold lines which join the flaps 24 to 2!inclusive, to the respective wall panels. It is not essential that thestrip 28 extend equally to both sides of the fold lines joining the saidflaps to the wall panels and it may be so arranged as to extend fartherto one side of said fold lines than to the other. However, thearrangement shown is satisfactory.

The strip 28 is adhesively secured to the wall panels and flaps so thatwhen the said flaps are folded to closure forming position thecorresponding portions of the strip 28 are also folded. The initialposition is illustrated in Fig. 2 wherein the flaps 24 to 21 inclusive,are shown in an upwardly extending relation to the ends of therespective wall panels from which they extend and the corner sealingstrip is shown approaching the fold lines on which the respective flapsare foldable. The first step in closing the container is to fold theflaps 24 and 25 inwardly as shown in Fig. 3. This is, of course,accompanied by corresponding folding of the underlying portions of thestrip 28, corner portions thereof being folded over as indicated at3l-3l on the portions carried by the flaps 26 and 21. The flaps 26 and21 are next folded inwardly, the flap 2'! being shown first folded over,the flaps 24 and 25 and the flap 26 over the flap 21, although thisorder in respect of the flaps 26 and 21 may be reversed. The provisionof the strip 28 serves to provide a substantially continuous band in thebottom corner of the paper bottle with consequent reduction of thepossibilities of leakage developing in said corners.

By paraffining the bottle either by spraying or by immersion in a bathofmolten parafiin, preferably by the latter method, all voids betweenany parts of the bottom structure will be filled with parafiin so thatleakage is more effectively prevented.

Containers such as here described are usually formed about a solidmandrel against which the end closure flaps are pressed while effectingadhesive inter-attachment of the flaps forming the end closure. However,with the described construction it is practicable to close the endclosure flaps against compressed air delivered into the containerthrough the filling opening 23 by means of an air nozzle 32 which isconnected to a suitable source of compressed air. The 'fiaps 24 and 25may, of course, be initially folded inwardly without regard to anysupport therefor but adhesive attachment of the flaps 26 and 2'! to eachother and to the underlying flaps 24 and require some support for theflaps 24 and 25 so that pressure may be exerted on the outermost flap 26to effect intimate adhesive bonding of these flaps.

The sealing strip 23 is not essential in the described construction orin the described method of closing the container end against the supportprovided by the air cushion in the container. However, by the provisionof the sealing strip, leakage of compressed air from within thecontainer is resisted to such an extent that an adequate air cushion canmore easily be built up in the container to support, or in effect, topress the flaps 24 and 25 outwardly against the over folded flaps 21 and26. The flaps 21 and 26 may be manually or mechanically held in thedesired folded condition as, for example, by means of a shoe representedat 33, which may be a normally stationary member under which the formedcontainers are propelled in the process of closing the bottom end of thecontainer. The shoe may be hollow and provided with inlet and outletopenings to permit circulation of a tempering or cooling medium throughtheshoe for controlling or expediting the setting of the enough tocompensate for such leakage. Also, it

should be understood that it is preferable that only suflicient airpressure to adequately support the inner flaps be employed.

Various changes in the described arrangement may be made withoutdeparting from the invention as described.

I claim:

1. The method of closing a container comprising a tubular body havingflaps at one end adapted to be folded intomutually overlying relation toclose such container, which consists in delivering compressed air intothe container, folding the flaps successively inwardly into closureforming position against the air cushion within the container, andeffecting adhesive inter-attachment of the mutually engaging surfaces ofsaid flaps.

2. The method of closing a container comprising a tubular body havingflaps at one end adapted to be folded into mutually overlying relationto close such container, which consists in providing the container witha sealing strip overlying portions of the container body and closureflaps on opposite sides of the fold lines about which the flaps arefoldable into closure 7 forming position, delivering compressed airintothe container and maintaining such air delivery to compensate for airescaping from the container to thereby maintain an air cushion withinthe container, folding thefiaps successively inwardly into closureforming position against the air cushion within the container, andeffecting adhesive inter-attachment of the mutually engaging surfaces ofsaid flaps, said sealing strip serving to prevent the escape ofcompressed air into the areas of adhesive inter-attachment to therebyinsure efiective bonding of said flaps together in closure formingposition.

3. The method of closing a container comprising a tubular floody havingflaps at one end adapted to be folded into mutually overlying relationto close such container, which consists in providing the container witha sealing strip overlying portions of the container body and closureflaps on opposite sides of the fold lines about which the flaps arefolda'b le into closure forming position, delivering compressed air intothe container, folding the flaps successively inwardly into closureforming position against the air cushion within the container, andeffecting adhesive inter-attachment of the mutually engaging surfaces ofsaid flaps, said sealing strip serving to prevent the escape ofcompressed air into the areas of adhesive inter-attachment to therebyinsure effective bonding of said flaps together in closure formingposition.

4. The method of closing a container embodying a tubular body having oneend closed and provided with a filling opening and its other endprovided with adhesive bearing flaps adapted to be folded into mutuallyoverlapping, adhesively interconnected relation in closure formingposition on said other end of the body, which consists in deliveringcompressed air into the body of the container through said fillingopening, and then folding said flaps into closure forming position andholding the outermost of said flaps in said position while the airpressure within the container presses said flaps into intimateinterengagement.

5. The method of closing a container embodying a tubular body having oneend closed and provided with a filling opening and its other endprovided vwith adhesive bearing flaps adapted to be folded into mutuallyoverlapping, adhesively interconnected relation in closure formingposition on said other end of the body, which consists in providing thecontainer with a sealing strip on its inside and overlying portions ofthe 010- sure flaps and tubular body on opposite sides of the fold lineson which said flaps are foldable into closure forming position,delivering compressed air into the body of the container through saidfilling opening, and then folding said flaps into closure formingposition and holding the outermost of said flaps in said position whilethe air pressure within the container presses said flaps into intimateinter-engagement, said sealing strip serving to prevent the escape ofcompressed air into the zones of inter-engagement between said flaps.

6. The method of closing a container embodying a tubular body having oneend closed and provided with a filling opening and its other endprovided with adhesive bearing flaps adapted to be folded into mutuallyoverlapping, adhesively interconnected relation in closure formingposition on said other end'of the body, which consists in deliveringcompressed air into the loody of the container through said fillingopening, then folding said flaps into closure forming position andholding the outer-most of said flaps in said position while the airpressure within the container presses said flaps into intimateinterengagement, and coating the container inside and out with waterproofing material.

7. The method of closing a container embodying a tubular body having oneend closed and provided with a filling opening and its other endprovided with adhesive bearing flaps adapted to be folded into mutualyoverlapping, adhesively interconnected relation in closure formingposition on said other end of the body, which consists in providing thecontainer with a sea-ling strip on its inside and overlying portions ofthe closure flaps and tubular body on opposite sides of the fold lineson which said flaps are foldable into closure forming position,delivering compressed air into the body of the container through saidfilling opening, then folding said flaps into closure forming positionand holding the outermost of said flaps in said position while the airpressure within the container presses said flaps into intimateinter-engagement, said sealing strip serving to prevent the escape ofcompressed air into the zones of inter-engagement between said flaps,and coating the container inside and out with water proofing material.

8. The method of closing a container comprising a tubular body havingone end closed and provided with a filling opening and its other endprovided with adhesive-bearing flaps adapted to be folded intoclosure-forming position on said other end of the body, which consistsin folding said flaps into closure-forming position, holding theoutermost of said flaps in said position, and delivering compressed airinto the body of the container through said filling opening so as tocause said compressed air to press said fiaps into intimate, adhesivelysecured interengagement.

9. The method of closing a container comprising a tubular body havingone end closed and provided with a filling opening and its other endprovided with adhesive-hearing flaps adapted to toe folded intoclosure-forming position on said other end of the body, which consistsin providing the container with a sealing strip on its inside and inoverlying relation to portions of the closure flaps and tubular body onopposite sides of the fold lines on which said flaps are foldable intoclosure-forming position, folding said flaps and the overlying portionsof said sealing strip into closure-forming position, holding theoutermost of said flaps in said position, and delivering compressed airinto the body of said container through said filling opening so as tocause said compressed air to press said flaps into intimate, adhesivelysecure interengagement, said sealing strip serving to resist passage ofcompressed air into the zones of interengagement between said flaps.

FRANK D. PALMER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,634,073 Labombarde June 28,1927 2,074,357 Bergstein Mar. 23, 1937 2,419,991 Dunning May 6, 1947

